Build Launch Pads, Not Fences
Forbes asked Business Council members which employee expectation companies keep underestimating. Chris opened the panel with the one that decides whether your best people stay: a visible future.
What top talent is really asking.
Forbes published this Business Council expert panel on August 25, 2026, built around a single question for business owners and leaders: which employee expectation are companies underestimating, and what should leaders do about it.
Sixteen members answered. Chris Sund led the piece, contributing under You Are Capable of More, with an answer drawn from running healthcare staffing companies through rapid growth and hiring at scale.
His point is that compensation and benefits get the most attention because they are the easiest things to compare. The thing candidates weigh hardest is harder to put in an offer letter: whether they can see themselves growing inside your company two years from now.
Top employees expect more than a job. They want to know they are growing toward something. That means regular conversations about each person's goals, the skills they want to build, and the opportunity they want next. Do not build fences to keep good people in. Build launch pads for their growth. When employees can see a future with your company, they are more likely to stay and contribute at a higher level.
How Leaders Put This to Work
Six ways Chris coaches leadership teams to turn a growth promise into something an employee can actually see.
Make the Future Visible
People stay where they can picture the next role, not just the current one. Say it out loud and say it early.
Ask About the Next Step
Regular one on ones about goals and skills, not an annual review that arrives after someone has already decided.
Launch Pads, Not Fences
Retention built on restriction is temporary. Retention built on growth compounds, and it earns you referrals.
Build Skills, Not Just Tenure
Give people the projects that stretch them now, so advancement is a natural next step instead of a waiting game.
Managers Carry the Message
A growth culture is delivered one manager at a time. Equip them to have the conversation well.
Higher Contribution Follows
People who see a future bring more to the work today. Engagement and retention move together.
Do not build fences to keep good people in. Build launch pads for their growth.Chris Sund in Forbes
Forbes Business Council.
Forbes Business Council is an invitation-only organization for business owners and leaders, and its expert panels bring a group of members together to answer one question facing operators right now.
Chris writes for Forbes and Inc. on leadership, culture, and workforce strategy, drawing on the experience of building and running companies rather than reporting on them from the outside.
Bring this to your team.
Chris speaks to leadership, HR, and workforce audiences on retention, culture, and building the kind of company top talent wants to grow inside. He is a sitting executive, not a consultant reporting from outside.